Jordan has need for speed

By
ASHLEY ARGOON

Jordan has need for speed

JORDAN Boys has cuts on his nose and lip, ﻿but they’re not from hooning around the go-kart track at 120km/h.

But they’re not from hooning around the go-kart track at 120km/h.

“I fell over in the net at indoor soccer,” the 15-year-old says as he pulls on his protective racing gear.

His mum Leanne Boys says her son has never — “touch wood” — hurt himself go-karting.

But playing Aussie rules and soccer, he hasn’t quite been so lucky.

“I’m not very good at that,” the Lavington teenager explains.

Asked which sport he’s referring to, Aussie rules or soccer, the second Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year nominee laughs, “both”.

Go-karting however, that’s a different story.

Jordan doesn’t remember exactly how old he was when he decided go-karting would be in his future.

He believes he always knew.

It was no surprise to his family; racing was in his blood.

“It was what dad had done, it was always the plan,” Jordan says.

As a toddler, he would spend weekends curled up on the couch with twin brother Cameron and father Peter, watching the car racing.

“I remember watching when we were still in nappies, I used to follow Craig Lowndes,” the Ford fan says, who stopped supporting Lowndes when the three-time V8 Supercar champion switched back to Holden in 2010.

Between motorsports on TV and spending countless hours at the Albury-Wodonga Kart Club, of which his family are founding members, racing was a big part of his life from a very young age.

“It was just a natural thing,” his mum explains.

“Anything with wheels; a bike, go-kart, anything, he loved it.”

But Jordan had to wait until his seventh birthday to jump the fence from spectator to participant.

Mrs Boys recalls her son’s first race.

She wasn’t nervous.

In the midget class with others aged seven to 10, there were only a handful of youngsters speeding around the track.

The few participants meant a lowered risk of accidents.

But in his second or third race, Mrs Boys was pacing behind the fence.

“That’s what I usually do, pace – mothers probably stress more than fathers,” she smiles.

“It was the state title at Dubbo, there were 44 midgets, all these little kids out on the track.

“At that age they’re fearless and that’s part of the problem.”

But Jordan walked from that race unharmed right to the podium, earning a place among the top three.

The podium is a place the Murray High School student has found himself countless times over the past eight years.

This year the Boys family will travel to about 20 state titles, many of them in South Australia and Queensland.

Jordan doesn’t know how many trophies he’s won, maybe 100.

“They’re everywhere; in his room, the lounge room, the office at work,” his mum says.

And surely, in years to come a few more trophies will join the collection.

But if everything goes to plan, the prizes won’t just be from go-karting.

“I would love to go to V8 Supercars, stay in Australia and get to the V8s,” Jordan says.

“It’s always been the plan for him to go further.”

Asked when he first considered the sport as career, not just a hobby, Jordan reflects.